A Birthday, a Blog Hop and some Fun Altered Goodies

Yay, I am so happy to have you here today, whether you are new to my blog or one of my wonderful followers. Before I tell you anything else about my post today, I have to give a birthday shout out to my sweet friend, Tessa, who will be celebrating the BIG 3-0 in just a couple of days. In honor of that, she has asked me (and several other fabulous crafty friends) to participate in a blog hop, sponsored by her Etsy shop, Precocious Paper. If you've never visited her store, make sure you check it out (and use my discount code at the end of this post).

Throughout this blog hop, starting today through the 31st, Tessa is giving away over $100 in product! So, let's get this party started...If you've been hopping along and just came from Anna White-Sharman's blog, you're in the right place. If you just started the hop here, make sure to start at the beginning by visiting Tessa's blog first.

I've had the opportunity to design with some of Tessa's products all month long, as her August guest designer and again as part of the hop! I just love all of Tessa's collections, but I have to say the August sampler, Summer Twilight, is one of my most favorite. Here's a couple of things I made with it...

A 6.5x5" "Sticky Note Set" box found on clearance at Target.

This is going to make a great little birthday treat for someone special.

I used the main Summer Twilight collection and then added some "felt roses", "sweet spots" and "butterfly doilies". I just love that she offers mix-n-match sets!

The inside of the box.

I plan to stamp the recipient's name on the paper set on the right side (but not yet in case she sees this post).

A headband

Ribbon for headband and flowers from the main Summer Twilight collection plus a navy felt rose.

                               Summer Twilight sampler                              Sweet Spots

                                      Butterfly Doilies                                       Felt Roses

In case you missed them from a previous post, here's a couple of other items I made as part of my guest design spot earlier this month.

Coupon Clutch (from Target $1 section)

With extreme couponing being all the rage

these days I figured I should attempt to

do some couponing. I won't go to extremes

but I'm going to be fashionable as I save                             Candle wrap for my mantle

a few dollars!                                                                      really makes a difference

Would you like some Precocious Paper goodies to work with?

• If you complete the entire hop, leaving a comment on every designer’s post by the 31st, you will be entered to win the grand prize – the September, October, November and December Samplers ($54.00 value and dozens upon dozens of hand-crafted scrapbooking embellishments). WOW!
• Follow Tessa’s blog to be entered to win a $20.00 credit to the shop
• Follow Precocious Paper on Facebook, you could win another $20.00 credit.
• Tessa is also giving away surprise credits to blog hop participants, so be sure to leave a comment on this post and I would love it if you would follow my blog if I inspired you in any way!

Before you hop to the next blog, check this out...Tessa has added many new things to her shop as part of the celebration, so be sure to stop by and take a peek. Use this code during check out - HLBBHFREE - you will receive free shipping (minimum $5 order) and a free thank you gift. This code is unique to me and the designer whose code is used the most get a little sumpin' sumpin' so I would just love it if you would use it for any purchases you make. The code is good until September 5th!!

Thank you for stopping by. Now hop on over to Rebecca's blog!

10 Things She Loves @ 2

Here's a fun little layout I do to highlight the things my daughter LOVES at the age of 2.  I used this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch and changed the circles to squares.

Supplies: American Crafts Hello Sunshine collection: Papers - Radiant, Dandy, Glow, Frolic, Spree and Remarks Stickers, Delights Paper Embellishments, Black .05 pen, Imaginisce i-rock and glam rocks, misc. buttons

To make the "10" I cut out a "10" from an old pattern paper stash I have that I will never use and laid it over ly blue background paper like a mask and misted in the negative space.  Then I hand drew the word "things" in pencil over the "10" and hand stitched it.  I did the same thing for the "@" sign on the bottom right of the page.

 I did a lot of layering, popping, and placing of all the elements around the page.  You can't tell from in these photos but some of the squares hactually have circles cut out on the sides where accordian elements are placed. This is one of my recent FAVES because of all the different dimensions.

Thanks for looking today. Make sure to visit the Sketchy Thursdays blog to play along with this week's sketch for your chance to win from My Creative Classroom.

Geek is Chic Back 2 School Goodness

I am so in love with this new school themed line from Imaginisce.  It's packed with great colors, grid papers, tone on tone patterns and adorable embellishments.  I've barely dug into the possibilities with this collection but I'm dying to show it off to you.  I hope to inspire you with these projects below and then keep reading to see how you might be able to get your hands on your very own sample pack of Geek is Chic.

My first project is this cute little apple basket that I made for my daughter to give to her teacher at Meet the Teacher. I packed it with lots of Hershey's Kisses because I am sure she needed a chocolate fix after her first day with all those kids. ;)

Then I realized I couldn't give her a gift without a card so I made her this card.  I used the alphas that My Little Shoebox generously gave to all of us on the Imaginisce design team. I made the brad using my i-top!!!

Then I ran into a problem.  The evening before Meet the Teacher I learned that my daughter had two teachers this year - one focusing on Language Arts and the other focusing on Math/Science. So the night before I made another apple and a 2nd card.

I just love ruler and captions paper.  Of course I HAD to fussy cut the captions.

Here's a little collage I put together so that you could see different angles of the apple.  Once I made the template (anyone want me to share it?), it was SUPER easy to put together.

Every year I have my daughter make a sign to hold up.  Check out the signs we made last minute as an after though the mornings of Kinder and 1st grade.

Awww, my little Kindergarten girl!

 Going into 1st grade (no, she wasn't bald, her hair was in a braid)

Okay, let's be honest, those signs just weren't working for us and I just couldn't stop playing with this collection so I found a chalkboard sign at Hobby lobby and transformed it into this...

 Much better, right?  The only problem is that the night before her 2nd day of 2nd grade, I decided that every year starting with this year, I am going to take a photo on the day # of the grade she is going into.  So, 2nd day of 2nd grade, 3rd day of 3rd grade, etc.  So here's the official sign and photo. I am sure you will see a layout about her 2nd day of 2nd grade in the very near future!

So, what kind of grade would you give me for these projects? Of course, I would love you to tell me here by commenting on this post but I would love it just as much if you would share your love for my projects over on the Imaginisce blog TODAY.  Plus, they are offering a chance for you to win your very own sample pack of Geek is Chic!

Sittin' on the Dock...

I just abso-FREAKIN-lutely love this captured moment of Reese with her big brother.  It's one of those photos that I've been wanting to scrap but I needed the right elements so as to not overshadow the photo yet give the page some pop.  The mistables that came in this month's Scrapbook Circle You Are My Sunshine kit were perfect. 

Here's the layout and I'll walk you through how I created this page.

Supplies from Scrapbook Circle You Are My Sunshine Kit: American Crafts Kraft Cardstock, Pink Paislee Mistable Stickers; Basic Grey Out of Print "Punblication"; Not in Kit - Studio Calico Mr Hueys in Piglet, Bonny Blue, Clover, Lemonade and Pickle.

To make this layout I fussy cut the tree from the mistables sticker sheet and laid it over my Kraft cardstock (since many trees are brown) so that the mistable side was facing down.  That was to avoid getting the mist on the flowers still attached to the tree that I would later cut out of the tree.

 Then I misted the tree with my green mist - "pickle" color because I wanted it to signify the green leaves in the photo. I also misted 2 other areas of the paper to complete my triangle. I carefully listed the mask from the page and this is how it looked...

I then doodled around the tree limbs to give it a more defined look, cuffy cut each flower and misted them in several different colors, being careful to remember where each flower was to be placed on the tree. Here is what the tree looked like when it was all said and done.

I then misted the larger flowers and layered them over each other to give them a bit of dimension. For some reason however the colors were more saturated on the larger flowers than on the tree's flowers. Oh and to make the leaves, I misted a smaller flower with green and cut it in half.

I am satisfied with this layout but I have to tell you that for some reason it just looks WAY better IRL than in the photo.  Also, this layout is more simple than usual because I really didn't want to take away from the photo or the tree but I have to admit it's not my typical style.  I still really like it but I think I'll stick to my layers.

A Taste of Culture

On a recent trip to Mexico we dined at a Japanese Hibachi grill, staffed by the people of Mexico.  It was both odd and fun at the same time.  I used this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch and my Birds of a Feather August kit to create the 1st portion of my double page layout on this.  The 2nd page will be posted soon. 

I had a lot of fun altering the paper, canvas and alphas on this layout. I'll post a tutorial soon showing my process of changing the colors so that I could get the pops of red I was shooting for.

Here's this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch. Make sure to check out what the design team did with this sketch and of course we'd love to have you play along. You just might win a great prize from ARTchix Studio!

Enjoy the Moment

I just adore these photos of Miss Reese. We went to Mexico recently and I snapped these after having dinner at the hibachi grill at the resort.  The first pic was what I got when I told her I wanted a picture of my beautiful girl all dressed up and the 2nd photo was from the walk home.  The walkways at the resort had these smaller stone paths embedded in them and my sweet little Reese just LOVED walking the lines.

I used this month's Scrapbook Circle You Are My Sunshine kit.  Each month, the design team members lift a layout posted to the Scrapbook Circle Facebook wall.  This month I lifted Doreen.  Here's my take on her layout.

Supplies from Scrapbook Circle You Are My Sunshine kit: Echo Park Countryside Bee's Knees; Sassafras Lass sunshine broadcast - flourish, border from sunshine broadcast - static; Basic Grey Out of Print Publication; Simple Stories Hello Sunshine paper; Elle's Studio Lil Snippets - Labels (Yellow); Elle's Studio Lil Snippets - Dates; American Crafts Kraft Cardstock; Maya Road Gold Ruffle Edge; Scrapbook Circle Digital Download; Studio Calico Mists (not in kit).



If you look closely you can see that I did my standard fussy cutting.  I cur some circle and doilies from the Simple Stories paper but I also hand cut circles from the Basic Grey Publication paper and then I backed most of them with a contrasting paper.

I kept the overall design of Doreen's layout with just a little different spin. Here's her original...

Make sure to post your layouts to the Scrapbook Circle Facebook wall for your chance to get "lifted".

Coupon Clutch and Candle Decor

I am sooo excited to be the guest designer for Precocious Paper this month. I always SWOON over Tessa's gorgeous monthly samplers!  August is no exception - have you seen the August Sampler - Summer Twilight?

With all the extrme couponing hype I decided to dabble in some couponing, not in the extreme way but just to save a few bucks here and there.  So I had all these coupons but nothing but a ziploc baggie to store them in. I was wandering through the Target $1 section when I stumbled across this organizer, which matches the Summer Twilight sampler PERFECTLY!  So I made this stylish coupon clutch to organize my coupons.

I couldn't stop there so I decided to wrap a candle with this gorgeous assortment and I just love the little added touch it brings to my mantle.

Here's the Summer Twilight sampler I got to play with.

You may notice that I haven't used the yellow bits yet.  I still have more projects that I did with this collection but you'll have to wait until the end of the month to see it as it will be part of Tessa's Birthday Blog Hop...lots of artists, great projects and a GREAT giveaway so stay tuned!

Oh and before I go, I have to show you the gorgeous wrapping my sampler came in.  Tessa impresses me every day! Please stop by the Precocious Paper blog and check out her amazing items. While you're there, tell her I sent ya. ;)

Daughters Are The Flowers of Life

We're back from vacationing in Mexico, had a GREAT time, took lots of pics but unfortunately we got sad news halfway through it that our beloved pup of 15 years had passed.  Needless to say, the hubby came back early and it's just been hard because Jenny was very much a part of our family.  We knew the day would come but the sweet gal was never sick and was just plugging along with us.  It broke my oldest girl's heart and we HATED to tell her because that meant hurting her but it had to be done.  They were truly best friends but after she cried it out, we made a pact that we still had Buddy, who is 14 years, and we could tell he was confused and depressed so we needed to take care of him and help him get through this.  Rheagan immediately stopped crying and made it her mission to help Buddy. It's amazing how much better they both are doing a little over a week later.  Did I mention how wonderful my hubby is to come home early to ensure everything was taken care of before we got home?

Okay, so that's where I've been the last few weeks (previous posts were scheduled while I was gone) but I am back now and ready to get crafty again.  So without further ado, here is that sweet little daughter of mine who is blossoming more and more every day. I used this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch, which I missed revealing last Thursday due to the whole situation above. You have until Wednesday to play along with us!  I used the Scrapbook Circle "You Are My Sunshine" kit, which is gorgeous by the way.

Supplies from Scrapbook Circle "You Are My Sunshine" kit: Echo Park Country Drive Collection - Bee's Knees, Just Dandy papers; My Mind's Eye Lime Twist Out of the Blue "Playful" alphabet; Scrapbook Circle August 2011 Digital Download; Girls' Paperie jubilee sticker market from May 2011 kit.

Lots of fussy cutting and elevating!

Thanks for looking!